


For the love of the game

by IAmACatWithABanjo



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments (Movies), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Competition, F/F, F/M, Hate to Love, Horseback Riding, Injury, M/M, Major Character Injury, Multi, Sabotage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-14 04:01:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15380202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmACatWithABanjo/pseuds/IAmACatWithABanjo
Summary: So basically (Prepare for shitty ass summary) Our favourite characters live in a small town and there are just 2 riding schools in the area. They compete constantly to make it into bigger and bigger eventing competitions.Just one problem. The two stables hate each other. They dedicate their lives to destroying each other in competitions. Doing their best to sabotage the opposing team and take home the grand prize.And to make matters worse, Alec attends Breezy meadows stables and Magnus attends Pine hollow.Get ready for an agonizing hate to love relationship between our smol gay children.





	For the love of the game

**Author's Note:**

> Don't kill me if this is trash. It is. You don't gotta tell me that.
> 
> I wrote this fairly late. So the grammar is tragic, I shoved commas in everywhere and anywhere and the whole storyline just jumps inconsistently back and forth. Enjoy.

The day started off simple enough. A loud knocking at my door forced me out of bed and I darted quickly round my room, flinging together my riding items. Today was a small competition at Breezy meadows, my stables, to determine which riders make the team for the grand nationals competition. The team consisted of four members and two emergency back up riders. I'd yet to make the team. Every year I would ride to my ability. Every year I was rejected.

A few months ago Jonathan Morgenstern, one of our top riders, had taken a fall off his more feisty mare. He would be out of work for 6 months, and in turn would miss the qualifiers. This year was my year.

After gathering my humble collection of show items I quickly got dressed and ran downstairs. Jace and Isabelle were already sat at the table. 

"Morning." Isabelle chirped. I'll never understand how she can be so chipper in the morning. Mornings were bad enough without the impending show looming over me. Of course Izzy didn't care though. She always made the team. 

Izzy is my younger sister. I took an interest into horses but was ignored. The moment Izzy wanted to ride she was bought a top class horse and started competing. After Jace was adopted and also decided to start riding mum decided to buy him a horse too. After that it was only fair for me to get my own horse. Granted mine wasn't quite as... classy... she was a rescue, next to Jace and izzys top class show horses, she wasn't really all that special, but she'd never let me down. 

"Morning." I acknowledged her before shoving some toast into the toaster. Jace ignored me, too engrossed in texting someone. 

"Are you excited about the show later?" I didn't answer her and so she persisted, "Alec. We both know that Jonathan's out now. With him gone you'll be sure to make the team." 

I just nodded counting down the seconds till my toast was done. 

After breakfast we headed outside, Jace and Izzy were already sat in the car, Izzy impatiently tapping at the window. I sped over and hopped in.

 

I was prepared to have to make conversation, but for once, Izzy and Jace were silent. This made the journey somewhat enjoyable. That didn't stop me from leaping out of the car the moment we stopped and rushing over to the stable baits though.

 

After that I expected the morning to get more pleasant. It didn't. It was a crazy panicked rush. I quickly ran in to check on my mare, Empress, she always managed to make a mess of herself after I'd worked so hard on cleaning her up. Surprisingly enough, she was clean. 

"Hey Empress. Sleep well?" I offered her a mint by way of greeting. She shot me a foul look but still accepted the mint before turning her back to me. 

 

I sighed and prepared to load her. Before 8am all the horses were ready and loaded. The grounds for the competition were very small and fairly close by. We mostly took it so seriously to show our rival stables that we meant business. 

 

I hauled myself up and into one of the larger horse trailers and stayed there for the 20 minute journey. If I'd thought the bustle would've been left behind at the stables, I was wrong. It was worse on this end of things. After 10 minutes of convincing Empress to leave the trailer, and 10 more minutes convincing her that her saddle was no different from the last time I used it, i managed to have myself sorted. I was just starting to let the excitement build when Clary showed up. Clary was Jaces girlfriend. She'd asked Jace to prepare her horse today and now I could see why. She was leading a 16hh Bay horse who looked completely disinterested by the atmosphere. A dark haired boy was trailing behind her.

"Hey guys! This is Simon. He wants to try out for the team." Clary beamed at us all. The moment the words left her mouth, my stomach dropped. 

"You can't be serious." The words left my mouth before I even realised that I was saying them. 

Clary scowled at me. "Deadly," She said before turning to everyone else. "Simon's been riding since he was 5. He's really good. He might be the replacement we need for Jonathan." 

I wasn't gonna lie, that stung. 

"I dunno... Alecs right, we've never seen him ride before, sure he can ride today but surely we should give other team members a chance to ride this year." Jace, as the team leader, surprised me by speaking up against his girlfriend.

 

"Really, Jace? I've seen him ride. I can vouch for him, surely thats enough." Clary gave him a meaningful look. 

"You can't manipulate him into letting your friend ride." I spoke up, taking a step towards her.

"I'm not manipulating anyone. Jace does what he wants. You should know that." Clary tried to square up to me, despite being more than three heads shorter.

 

"Guys, calm down. Clary I don't have a problem with your friend but it's a ver-" Jace was cut of by a load car horn. 

 

Shit.

 

The riders from Pine hollow had arrived. I swear my gulp was comically audible. 

"What we fighting about today? Which ones of you are gonna embarrass yourselves in front of everyone at nationals?" Their leader, Camille, called out. Her whole group laughed as they jumped out of the various trucks and cars used to transport them there. 

 

"Shut it, Camille. You're going down this year. We've got a new kid on our side this year. You have no idea what you're up against." Jace retorted.

 

Clary smirked at me. I just turned to Jace with an expression of pure betrayal.

"Oooh! I'm so scared now!" She laughed turning back to her team.

"You should be. We're going full out this year. And I'm not afraid to play dirty" Aline threatened.

This time is was a guy from their team that replied. Magnus Bane. Small run down on Magnus. Izzy dated him before the riding got competitive, though it was never serious. I'd had a crush on him for 6 years... oh, how could I have forgotten. He also absolutely despised me. Anyway, back to Magnus and his king sized ego.

"You go back to playing dirty with your girlfriend, we'll do the actual riding." His words turned to white noise the moment that smirk appeared.

Right as I expected this to become an actual fight Camille turned to her team. 

"Let's go guys. We have actual things to get done." 

The moment they left I allowed myself to listen to our conversation again. Aline was fuming. It took about three seconds before it was turned round on me.

"This is your fault." Helen told me, glaring up at me fiercely. 

I pretended to be surprised that I was being held responsible, but it wasn't too shocking at this point.

"Me? What did I do?" 

"If you hadn't been arguing with Clary they never would've said anything." 

"She has a point." Simon chimed in. 

"What do you know? You just showed up." I growled at him. My show nerves becoming anger. 

"Don't talk to him like that!" 

"Stop arguing, you guys are awful!" 

"How will we beat them if we can even be an actual team." 

"ENOUGH," Jace shouted above the mutters. "Camille was trying to rile us up and it worked. Alec, maybe you should sit out this year. It would minimalize arguments." 

I turned to him in shock. "What do you mean 'sit out this year'?" I asked.

 

"You can compete today, but I think it's best if you don't ride at nationals." Jace turned to everyone else while I processed this. "Go get your horses. First riders are up in 25 minutes and none of you have started warming up yet." 

 

Everyone turned and left. I headed over to Empress feeling slightly dejected. 

I tried to keep clear of all my team as I warmed up, but I could feel the sympathetic, hateful and confused looks being shot my way. 

I was just preparing for my ride when Magnus trotted over to me. He was meant to ride after me. I was the first rider of our two teams to compete and was nervous enough. He rode with an air of arrogance. It was evident that he thought a lot of himself.

 

"Good luck." He told me when he was within speaking distance. I waited for the 'you're gonna need it' and wasn't disappointed. 

Choosing to ignore him I kicked Empress on. The moment we began cantering around the jumps, I calmed down. Nothing was more comforting than being sat on Empress. Her canter was steady and smooth, the movement familiar and comforting. I cleared my mind of everything else as I lined up for the first jump. 

Right from the get go we had problems. Empress, who had been acting very prepared and calm, completely baulked at the jump. It took everything in my power to get her over the jump and prevent a complete refusal. The second jump came up much too fast and she desperately tried to slip out to the side. As I gathered my reins, trying to take control, I debated pulling her up. Maybe Jace was right, we wouldn't be very appropriate riders for the team. As If sensing my sudden change in mood, Empress pitched forward, much too fast for a reliable steady jump. She flung herself over it, somehow clearing it, but the moment she landed she threw in a huge buck. I was on her neck at this point. I knew that everyone was watching me in this moment. And I'd be damned if I pulled up in front of Magnus after that display.

Suddenly I fixed my position and gave her a firm squeeze with the reins while guiding her with my legs until she was listening again. At this point we'd jumped half the course. I knew that our time was probably awful at this point, but I pushed on anyway. 

We cut corners where ever was possible and I kept pushing her for a more consistent canter. As we nearing the final jump, a triple combination, I felt a sharp pain in my knee. This eased my leg slightly off and allowed for mistake. Empress took off at the wrong time and carried on leaping over the remaining jumps with as much effort as possible. My knee was throbbing and I knew how sloppy our round was, but I pushed desperately for the final line. The moment we passed it I laid off, dreading the looks I knew I'd be getting from my teammates...

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you found some parts bearable. Leave a comment if you have any suggestions on where you want this to go. 
> 
> For those wondering.
> 
> Breezy meadows: 
> 
> Jace Wayland   
> Clary Fray   
> Isabelle Lightwood   
> Alec Lightwood  
> Aline Penhallow   
> Helen Blackthorn   
> Maureen Brown 
> 
> New kid: Simon Lewis 
> 
> Pine Hollow: 
> 
> Catarina Loss   
> Ragnor Fell   
> Jordan Kyle   
> Maia Roberts   
> Magnus Bane   
> Sebastian Verlac   
> Raphael Santiago   
> Lily Chen   
> Camille Belcourt


End file.
